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The Force Awakens Blu Ray special features include 7 minute music featurette "The Seventh Symphony"


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1 hour ago, Incanus said:

Oh and those deleted scenes seem very short but if they do feature new music at least that will be interesting. I know Abrams likes to keep up a snappy pace in his films but snow speeder chase of 48 seconds seems a bit short even by his standards. Could it take place when the heroes are trying to get from the hill where they land Falcon on Starkiller base to the actual generator/oscillator facility?

 

I'm guessing it's only a small part of the lenghtier, more elaborate sequence that was meant to be in the film. It had already been discussed in a previous article. Do try to keep up!: http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-11-biggest-differences-between-the-book-and-movie-v-1749329046

 

Quote

The Battle For Starkiller Base Had A Lot More Ground Action

Although they were plastered all over the toys and merchandise for the film, the First Order’s snowtroopers barely appeared—some were at the First Order rally, and that’s it. But now we know why they and their speeders ended up being such a big part of the toy push: a whole action sequence from the climax was cut from the final movie.

In the novel, when Rey and Finn make their way to the oscillator to plant their last set of bombs, they do so by hijacking a First Order snowspeeder—which leads to a big chase as Snowtroopers took pursuit of the heroes.

 

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Sounds pretty effects intensive. I doubt Disney would've paid ILM to finish it off, but here's hoping. Maybe the sequence was cut late in post and scored in the early sessions, too! :D

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I'm happy that at least we're getting something. I think none of us are in a position to make an hour long featurette just about the music happen unfortunately, but  I would absolutely love that too of course :D

Well, maybe in the future, we had Star Wars themed canned corns in every supermarket during the hype, so anything can happen :D

It's still just the first edition, I won't believe that this will be the only release, maybe they're making something big for the 40th anniversary next year. I won't hold my breath, but there's always hope :)

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On ‎4‎.‎3‎.‎2016 at 11:52 PM, BloodBoal said:

Plus the first 3 or 4 minutes of that featurette will probably be about the legacy of the Star Wars music, focusing on the music from the OT and then the prequels! It's despicable! Ugh! Makes me want to puke in a bucket, and then dump the bucket on my head!

Pics!!!

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E.T.'s prediction for the featurette:

 

''John is a God.'' - J.J. Abrams

''Working with J.J. was great. I composed music.'' - John Williams

 

End.

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  • 2 weeks later...
18 hours ago, Mr. Big said:

Did they ban him over at FSM?  



If you have to ask that question, then you don't know me.....

"I'm like a bad penny..."

 

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John Williams also gives a lot of great insight in the relatively short doc on him coming back to score Episode 7. He's so thoughtful that every time he describes creating a new piece of music you really feel like he's Yoda-teaching you how music translates into emotion. His discussion on composing the final moments as Rey ascends the “Jedi steps” to find Luke in particular is fascinating.

 

From Ain't It Cool

 

I don't think we've actually gotten any comments from him about Jedi Steps yet, have we? 

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2 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

 

From Ain't It Cool

 

I don't think we've actually gotten any comments from him about Jedi Steps yet, have we? 

 

 

Nope, but I'd be staggered if Williams didn't spend weeks perfecting it. There's such a sense of inevitability, mystery, hope, sadness and triumph all rolled into 2 minutes of music. IMHO it's the theme for the New Jedi Order and this will be expanded as the key theme of the new trilogy (I hope).

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22 minutes ago, crumbs said:

 

 

Nope, but I'd be staggered if Williams didn't spend weeks perfecting it. There's such a sense of inevitability, mystery, hope, sadness and triumph all rolled into 2 minutes of music. IMHO it's the theme for the New Jedi Order and this will be expanded as the key theme of the new trilogy (I hope).

JW is more likely to completely abandon a theme or minimize it's use, especially minor themes, than expand on them in future scores.

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I wouldn't be surprised if all the themes introduced in TFA didn't reappear in Episode VIII.

 

John Williams about Rey's new theme in Episode VIII: "I thought it was about time to give the character a theme. In Episode VII, she didn't have any because her character wasn't fully formed, but now that she knows who she wants to be, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally write a melody for her".

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No, that's not true.

 

I can we can safely assume Rey's theme will return, as will Kylo Ren's.

I doubt Finn's theme will be used again, since Williams already abandoned it after the first half of the film. The Resistance March might get a statement of two, but nothing major (like The Rebel Fanfare was barely used in TESB). Same for Poe's theme...maybe.

The Snoke Material is something I can see JW flesh out a bit.

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44 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

No, that's not true.

 

I can we can safely assume Rey's theme will return, as will Kylo Ren's.

I doubt Finn's theme will be used again, since Williams already abandoned it after the first half of the film. The Resistance March might get a statement of two, but nothing major (like The Rebel Fanfare was barely used in TESB). Same for Poe's theme...maybe.

The Snoke Material is something I can see JW flesh out a bit.

I think it is safe to assume that if JW is able to continue with the Episode VIII all the major themes from Episode VII (Rey's, Kylo's and Resistance's theme) will probably return. Poe's theme might well return if they give the character more focus in the sequels and  Finn's/Heroes On the Run theme might be reprised depending on the circumstances of the sequel.

 

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1 minute ago, Incanus said:

I think it is safe to assume that if JW is able to continue with the Episode VIII all the major themes from Episode VII

 

 

Based on what?

 

Certainly not most John Williams scored sequels. Typically a few themes return, but not all of the major ones. And then only in a secondary capacity. JW tends to focus on new themes and uses old ones where needed.

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Rey's theme will return.

 

Kylo will get a more developed musical identity.

 

Johnson will ask Williams to write a new theme for the Resistance because he's not happy with the one written for TFA.

 

Finn's theme and Poe's theme won't return (or, to be more precise, Poe's theme might return, but only as a brief cameo).

 

 

You heard it first here.

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15 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

Based on what?

Precedence. It's true Williams usually focuses on the new themes but certainly reprises major themes from the previous films quite frequently when the films call for it. With the OT this was very prevalent but in the Prequels there was not much continuity between the films in terms of leitmotivic association and thus Williams was forced to create almost separate musical worlds for each of the films, hence a lack of stronger thematic progression through the films. But of course there is no strict rulebook for this as JW isn't entirely consistent with how he approaches the sequels although he does weigh more heavily on using new material, which I guess is to him artistically more appealing than retreading old material even when leitmotivically appropriate. I think he never fails to mention how little old themes he has used in the new score when it comes to these franchises.

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1 minute ago, Incanus said:

in the Prequels there was not much continuity between the films and thus Williams was forced to create almost separate musical worlds for each of the films, hence a lack of stronger thematic progression through the films.

 

How so?

 

If anything there was a stronger continuity when it comes to style and story in the Prequels then there was in the OT, which are essentially 3 different film with 3 different main plots. The Prequels tell a single narrative throughout 3 films.

 

Again, we can be 100% sure Williams will reprise themes from TFA, but for the most part I doubt he will really use them a lot or develop/vary them much.

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2 hours ago, Stefancos said:

 

How so?

 

If anything there was a stronger continuity when it comes to style and story in the Prequels then there was in the OT, which are essentially 3 different film with 3 different main plots. The Prequels tell a single narrative throughout 3 films.

 

Again, we can be 100% sure Williams will reprise themes from TFA, but for the most part I doubt he will really use them a lot or develop/vary them much.

The musical continuity of the Prequels despite the main characters being the same falters as each film and subsequently score is approached very differently and usually thematically in an isolated way. The major themes established in TPM do not return in any significant way in AotC or RotS, most importantly because of the fact that these character themes do not migrate between the films for several reasons. Qui-Gon and Darth Maul die, Anakin grows up, Duel of the Fates is never intended or integrated as a major trilogy spanning thematic idea (but has its token appearances both in AotC and RotS). The Trade Federation March which is ripe for use in the sequels as the main antagonist theme is heard but once in AotC. Something like Shmi's theme makes its quick dutiful appearances in AotC but then disappears with her demise. There is not a lot of material that carries over from film to film apart from the Force theme and the Emperor's theme from the OT.

 

In AotC most themes outside Across the Stars all play to the plotlines of the film and are thus entirely expendable after these have come to their fruition. The Courtship Theme, the Separatists theme, Zam the Assassin, the Kamino theme, the Mystery theme all remain in AotC.  RotS is mostly concerned with integration of the old themes from the OT to the fabric of the film full of references to the past and again boasts an entirely new host of smaller motifs to underscore the specific requirements of the movie and the major theme of Battle of the Heroes that is just like Duel of the Fates originally was, a setpiece theme for a specific sequence. But again JW practically begins from scratch with his thematic architecture (apart from Across the Stars and Anakin's secondary theme).

 

Original trilogy while undeniably remaining inventive and thematically varied throughout integrates the older themes with much more panache and observance of the leimotivic continuity than the Prequels, where such development is cut almost at the end of every film and almost all of the characters carrying themes either lose their themes for some reason, disappear or meet their end before the next movie.

 

As for Episode VIII there is of course depending on the plot of the second movie good chances for the major good and evil guy themes of returning as they are now the established opposing forces Rey vs Kylo Ren, The Resistance/Republic vs The First Order. The Prequels had much more nebulous politics in terms of villains for example where no one theme could or would represent them from film to film. Of course one could speculate that e.g. The First Order or Kylo Ren might even gain new musical depictions much as the Empire did in ESB when Imperial March appeared and did the double duty of representing both Darth Vader and The Galactic Empire and its military might as a whole. This time around Williams already laid down many character based themes so the chances are that they return (some more extensively than others) if they return to the film.

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3 hours ago, Stefancos said:

The Prequels tell a single narrative throughout 3 films.

 

 

You really think that?

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Its not what I think, it's what's actually true.

 

The 3 films tell the story of the fall of the Republic and the Jedi, the rise of the Empire and the seduction of Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side.

The problem is that its done incredibly badly. 

1 hour ago, Incanus said:

The musical continuity of the Prequels despite the main characters being the same falters as each film and subsequently score is approached very differently and usually thematically in an isolated way. The major themes established in TPM do not return in any significant way in AotC or RotS, most importantly because of the fact that these character themes do not migrate between the films for several reasons. Qui-Gon and Darth Maul die, Anakin grows up, Duel of the Fates is never intended or integrated as a major trilogy spanning thematic idea (but has its token appearances both in AotC and RotS). The Trade Federation March which is ripe for use in the sequels as the main antagonist theme is heard but once in AotC. Something like Shmi's theme makes its quick dutiful appearances in AotC but then disappears with her demise. There is not a lot of material that carries over from film to film apart from the Force theme and the Emperor's theme from the OT.

 

In AotC most themes outside Across the Stars all play to the plotlines of the film and are thus entirely expendable after these have come to their fruition. The Courtship Theme, the Separatists theme, Zam the Assassin, the Kamino theme, the Mystery theme all remain in AotC.  RotS is mostly concerned with integration of the old themes from the OT to the fabric of the film full of references to the past and again boasts an entirely new host of smaller motifs to underscore the specific requirements of the movie and the major theme of Battle of the Heroes that is just like Duel of the Fates originally was, a setpiece theme for a specific sequence. But again JW practically begins from scratch with his thematic architecture (apart from Across the Stars and Anakin's secondary theme).

 

Original trilogy while undeniably remaining inventive and thematically varied throughout integrates the older themes with much more panache and observance of the leimotivic continuity than the Prequels, where such development is cut almost at the end of every film and almost all of the characters carrying themes either lose their themes for some reason, disappear or meet their end before the next movie.

 

As for Episode VIII there is of course depending on the plot of the second movie good chances for the major good and evil guy themes of returning as they are now the established opposing forces Rey vs Kylo Ren, The Resistance/Republic vs The First Order. The Prequels had much more nebulous politics in terms of villains for example where no one theme could or would represent them from film to film. Of course one could speculate that e.g. The First Order or Kylo Ren might even gain new musical depictions much as the Empire did in ESB when Imperial March appeared and did the double duty of representing both Darth Vader and The Galactic Empire and its military might as a whole. This time around Williams already laid down many character based themes so the chances are that they return (some more extensively than others) if they return to the film.

 

Obviously!

 

But even for Harry Potter Williams had largely abandoned most of the themes from the first film by the time he did POA. COS continued them, but that is in a large part because of the unique nature of the assignment, which many parts of the first score were adapted and reused pretty much verbatim.

 

If people are expecting a LOTR like treatment for Star Wars then I think they will end up dissapointed in the end. With the exception of Home Alone 2 and POA Williams always strove to make his sequel scores independent despite being connected. 

 

But i think we both seem to be arguing thr same point. Namely that some themes will return, some will be dropped or replaced.

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I wouldn't say the prequels tell a single narrative.

 

TPM is a story about a planet fighting trade taxation, and the governing body of the galaxy sends 2 Jedi to help and one of them finds a force-sensitive boy along the way

 

AOTC is a split narrative, with one half being Obi-Wan investigating the mystery of an assassination attempt on a senator with a connection to clone armies and the other being Anakin protecting the senator while they fall in love and he has to confront his past, with both stories converging at the end

 

ROTS was a bunch of crap I don't remember about Palpatine revealing himself and turning Anakin and them wiping out most of the jedi and taking over the government or whatever

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Clearly I don't put as much thought into those terrible movies as you do

 

Nor have I seen any of them in over a decade

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There's some great unreleased music in the 'Secrets of the Force Awakens'. 

 

What I think is the original cue of the "Imperial March" cue (where we see Vader's Helmet) has lots more low aggressive french horns in it than the film version. Also a great "Force Theme" rendition at the end of the documentary. Hopefully we get an expanded release this year with all this extra music! 

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2 minutes ago, aj_vader said:

There's some great unreleased music in the 'Secrets of the Force Awakens'. 

 

Good, goood!!!

 

 

2 minutes ago, aj_vader said:

What I think is the original cue of the "Imperial March" cue (where we see Vader's Helmet) has lots more low aggressive french horns in it than the film version.

 

OOOh!

 

2 minutes ago, aj_vader said:

Also a great "Force Theme" rendition at the end of the documentary.

 

 

Nice!

 

 

2 minutes ago, aj_vader said:

Hopefully we get an expanded release this year with all this extra music! 

 

Don't hold your breath.

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4 minutes ago, aj_vader said:

There's some great unreleased music in the 'Secrets of the Force Awakens'. 

 

What I think is the original cue of the "Imperial March" cue (where we see Vader's Helmet) has lots more low aggressive french horns in it than the film version. Also a great "Force Theme" rendition at the end of the documentary. Hopefully we get an expanded release this year with all this extra music! 

 

Apologies, I haven't been following all the score analysis threads religiously.  Are we reasonably sure that was a new performance of the Imperial March for that quote in the helmet scene?  For some reason, when I first saw the movie I assumed it was tracked.

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9 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Apologies, I haven't been following all the score analysis threads religiously.  Are we reasonably sure that was a new performance of the Imperial March for that quote in the helmet scene?  For some reason, when I first saw the movie I assumed it was tracked.

In the film it sounds new to me and the version in this documentary is also new. 

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Yea its too bad we didn't get that bit on the FYC - though it makes sense, since the job of the FYC was to promote the new material, not the old.

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